September 27, 2012

I was going to write a post about Tennessee's offense and how we match up with them, but I kept coming back to this:

Pressure and more pressure. When he had time, he hit long passes. Once you get in his head, he makes better throws to his coach than his receivers. He was a shivering mess the second half. It didn't help that his running backs were hemmed in (83 yards total on 28 carries). Keep Jones in his face, bring Ogletree and others from crazy angles and make them guess who is about to hit whom.

As for their defense, they are 70th in the nation, allowing 392 ypg. They allow 24.25 ppg and have a decent pass defense. However, facing the power trio of NC State's Mike Glennon, Georgia State's Ben McLane, and Akron's Dalton Williams, they are holding QBs to an 84.68 QB rating. Florida's Jeff Driskell hit 194 on them, going 14-20 for 219 yards. Their rushing defense isn't that great, either, allowing 336 yards rushing to the Gators. The did hold the other three teams to around 100 yards rushing.

More telling is their lack of production in certain situations. They give up over 2 ypc more in the second half than the first. They allow nearly 7 ypc on first down. They are stout on second down, only allowing 1.8 ypc. Strangely enough, you know when they are worst passing? Second down, allowing a 109 passer rating (bolstered by two 2ints) and nearly 63% of passes to be completed.

So teams should look to run on first down and use play action on second. Basically, their defense plays right into Bobo's offensive philosophy. Furthermore, teams have been eating them up on long plays. They are giving up 13+ plays per game of over 10 yards (54 in four games, with 20 of those going over 20 yards). Georgia is leading the nation in plays over 20 yards, if you are keeping score at home.

So, this basically boils down to who is going to play stouter defense. If that is the case, I like our chances. Being able to read hand off quickly and keep Rajion Neal from getting on the edge is key to stopping their running game. We need to stuff Patterson and Hunter on the line, use Rambo/Williams as deep cover and get any combination of Jones, Washington, Herrera, Robinson, Ogletree, and [fill in 350 lb nose guard] in the backfield and put Bray on his tatoo.